What Are the Serendipities in Your Life Telling You? 

Kitty J. Boitnott, PhD, NBCT, RScP 

Certified Life Strategies & Stress Management Coach

Writer and poet, Simon Van Booy has said, “Coincidences mean you are on the right path.”

Albert Einstein once said that coincidences are “God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

I should offer the disclaimer here that I don’t really like the word, “coincidences.” I prefer to think of “coincidences” as “serendipities.” To me, serendipity is a coincidence with the added element of surprise or delight. 

I find serendipities in my life all the time. Some people recognize them later, after they have happened; but I usually spot them in the moment. I suspect I see them more readily because I have trained myself to be on the look out for them. 

My question to you today is, are you on the look out for coincidences/serendipities that indicate that you are on your right path? Is God trying to nudge you in a particular direction, but because She is doing it anonymously, you are ignoring the messages that you are receiving?

If that is the case, I urge you to slow down and start paying more attention to the various coincidences that I am sure are occurring in your life right now, even as I write this message. No one is immune to having those odd, “coincidental” events in their lives to which I am referring. So, what are the coincidences in your life, and what are they trying to tell you? Are you on the right path, or do you need a course correction? You know deep down where you need to be and what you need to be doing. "Listen to your own wisdom," as Oprah would say. It will not lead you astray.

Now, just in case you need an example, I have one that just this minute happened for me. This morning, I presented to a group of teachers around the topic of National Board Certification. It made me think about the last person I mentored, and I wondered for a moment how she was doing. Then I proceeded on with my talk. 

Guess from whom I just this minute received an email? You guessed it. That person about whom I thought just this morning has contacted me, wanting to check in "out of the blue." I haven't heard from her for months. Why would she decide to check in with me today? Because I thought of her this morning and on some cosmic level, we must have connected.

Those are the events about which I am writing. When you think of someone and they call you the next day. "I was just thinking about you," you will say. Or you discover that you need some extra cash for something that has come up unexpectedly and suddenly, as you are balancing your checkbook you discover an error that reveals that you have the amount you need. Admittedly, it doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen on occasion.

Be on the look out. Listen to the messages you are being sent. God is speaking to you through those coincidences that I like to think of serendipities. Again, as Oprah is famous for saying, it is "what I know for sure."